Cycad cones and flushes

[Palm Tree Jim]

On 9/20/2017, 9:21:27, Tracy said:

The pup on my Encephalartos horridus x woodii flushed and the leaf detail is so interesting looking I had to share it.

Very nice!

[Palm Tree Jim]

15 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Nice brown horridus flush and a very purple lehmanii flush. Colorwise this is by far the nicest lehmanii that i have, or have ever seen.  The older leaves are from earlier this year and still hold amazing color. 

Do your cycads normally flush this time of year?

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Yea,  big ones flush spring and octoberish and big cycas will flush april through November.  Cycads seedlings flush every 60 days or so while warm. The only issue is the flushes burn in july/august/Sept if our watering schedule isn't timed perfectly(60 second intervals throughout the heat of the day to drop the temperature to prevent dessication of new flush)

[Josh-O]

On 9/20/2017, 9:21:27, Tracy said:

The pup on my Encephalartos horridus x woodii flushed and the leaf detail is so interesting looking I had to share it.

looks great Tracy! You defiantly can see the Woodii in it.

[Tracy]

Who doesn't appreciate a Cycas debaoensis flushing?  This one sits sandwiched in a planter between my detached garage (east) and my covered patio (west), so receives limited summer sun (mid-day).  My other one in the same garden, same soil, but full am through mid-day sun, flushed much earlier this year, and looks like it's getting ready to flush again before winter arrives.  Lesson learned: you can give this species too much shade and slow them down.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Dioon Purpusii and purple lehmanii update.  

[Tracy]

5 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

purple lehmanii update.  

I love the color of the flush on Encephalartos lehmanii, with that purple tint.  Too bad they don't stay that way when they harden off, but then we would be singing the praises of the blues we miss (pun intended).

[5150cycad]

On 9/20/2017, 9:21:27, Tracy said:

The pup on my Encephalartos horridus x woodii flushed and the leaf detail is so interesting looking I had to share it.

Great looking form on the Hor-wood. Love these hybrids. My hor-wood hybrid is starting to show a lot of fuzz around the growing point kinda like your arenarius-wood. I am thinking it might be starting to cone. Hopefully not this late in the season though. I have a lot of stuff that recently started flushing again due to the hot weather. 

[Tracy]

Zamia furfuracea cone, one of the pretty common Cycads these days.  Often I see this Zamia species available at the BIg Box stores, next to Cycas revoluta.  It's still a pretty cool looking Cycad with great bronze emergent leaves!  I've kept mine in a pot on a rolling mini-pallet.  I keep it right in front of my electric meter to hide the visual blight in that the meter is right up front, inside my gate along the front walkway.  The Zamia furfuracea with full foliage sure is a lot more attractive than an electric meter!

[Dr Sha]

Cycas revoluta, around 12 years old.  Third flush this year.

[GeneAZ]

3 hours ago, Dr Sha said:

Cycas revoluta, around 12 years old.  Third flush this year.

Not revoluta, I dare say.

[Dr Sha]

On 25/10/2017 2:08:58, GeneAZ said:

Not revoluta, I dare say.

It is, I rooted a pup.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Cones open on revoluta/ micholitzii and debaoensis hybrids. 

[msporty]

A male E. horridus coning in my yard. This is its first time coning and I find the cone attractive. The green on black contrast is a nice change from all the yellow cones I’ve seen in my yard.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

2 hours ago, msporty said:

A male E. horridus coning in my yard. This is its first time coning and I find the cone attractive. The green on black contrast is a nice change from all the yellow cones I’ve seen in my yard.

How big is the caudex on this horridus

[msporty]

I had to go measure. It’s about 10”. It’s hard to believe it got that big because when I last measured it a few years ago it was much smaller. I have one picture from July 2014 when I potted it up into a 20g pot, shown below. I planted it out one year ago and it didn’t skip a beat.

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Another late flush of the year makes this one a triple flusher in 2017. 

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Another late flush of the year makes this one a triple flusher in 2017. 

That is a lot of flushes in a year.  I have only seen that with small Encephalartos, which push multiple small flushes of 1 or 2 leaves at a time.  The same plants as they get larger push more leaves per flush, but then normally only once.  An example is this Encephalartos arenarius (blue form) x latifrons which is squeezing out a little 2 leaf flush right now before winter arrives.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I haven't measured that plant lately but I believe it's about a 7-8" icaudex. I had a similar sized trispinosus flush three times but my other big encephalartos only flushed twice this year. 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

7.5" today. Notes say it was 5.25" 13 months ago. 

[Tracy]

While I already posted photos of the immature cones, these male Encephalartos arenarius x woodii hybrids are fully mature now, with pollen readily visible when you look at close ups of the cones.  I also find the green color with the inner brown of the cone attractive visually.

[5150cycad]

On 11/23/2017, 8:55:46, Tracy said:

While I already posted photos of the immature cones, these male Encephalartos arenarius x woodii hybrids are fully mature now, with pollen readily visible when you look at close ups of the cones.  I also find the green color with the inner brown of the cone attractive visually.

Those cones look amazing in contrast to the dark glossy leaves. I have never personally seen cones of any Woodii hybrid. Let me know if you are interested in trading pollen for resulting seed. I have a female horridus that is about to open any day and think it could turn out being a pretty interesting cross, although not as cool as an (Arenarius x Woodii) x Woodii

[Tracy]

A little more male Encephalartos action.... Encephalartos natalensis x horridus shedding a bunch of pollen, and the Encephalartos longifolius male cone about to let loose of a lot of pollen.

[Peter]

Very nice Tracy-do you have an overall photo of NatHor?

[Tracy]

22 hours ago, Peter said:

Very nice Tracy-do you have an overall photo of NatHor?

I have a pair, and this is a "full monty" of the coning one's sibling, which also happens to be a male.  I didn't see any recent shots of the coning one in full frontal view.  They are both about the same size and are identical in age.

[Peter]

Lovely-thanks!

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Tracy-Any blue on this hybrid or is it as green as it looks in the photos?

[Tracy]

On 12/12/2017, 9:05:32, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Tracy-Any blue on this hybrid or is it as green as it looks in the photos?

There have been hints of blue on some flushes, but the waxy coating which gives it the blue eventually washes off over time.  Since it holds multiple flushes the lower ones are always the most green.  While my true blue Encephalartos have nice color, I have to wonder if part of the reason this doesn't have as much of the waxy sunscreen is my microclimate which never gets really hot, and due to the coastal influence the sun isn't as intense.  Nature, nurture or some combination, to put it another way.

[5150cycad]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

There have been hints of blue on some flushes, but the waxy coating which gives it the blue eventually washes off over time.  Since it holds multiple flushes the lower ones are always the most green.  While my true blue Encephalartos have nice color, I have to wonder if part of the reason this doesn't have as much of the waxy sunscreen is my microclimate which never gets really hot, and due to the coastal influence the sun isn't as intense.  Nature, nurture or some combination, to put it another way.

I live in Escondido (approximately 16 miles inland from Tracy’s house) where temps get up to 108 degrees in the summer. During the hottest months two of my Natalensis x horridus hybrids get very very blue, I am guessing because of the extreme temperatures and exposure to the direct sunlight. However it has me somewhat puzzled because I do have one natalensis x horridus that doesn’t get even a hint blue which is interesting because it sees the same temps and has the same exposure to to direct sunlight. Maybe that plant got a lot more of Mom’s genes. Or it could be from a complete different batch of seeds. Either way a pretty cool hybrid. I will try and post some pictures of mine later today. 

[Peter]

Interesting-look forward to more photos.

[Tracy]

19 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

Maybe that plant got a lot more of Mom’s genes. Or it could be from a complete different batch of seeds.

I have definitely been shown some pretty significant variation in cycads derived from one cone's batch of seeds.  Once you control for environmental factors, you have to suspect the variation has to do with the genetic makeup of individual offspring.  I'm looking forward to seeing the variation between your blue and green plants.  Do the leaflets have similar structure on the two variations?

[5150cycad]

6 hours ago, Tracy said:

I have definitely been shown some pretty significant variation in cycads derived from one cone's batch of seeds.  Once you control for environmental factors, you have to suspect the variation has to do with the genetic makeup of individual offspring.  I'm looking forward to seeing the variation between your blue and green plants.  Do the leaflets have similar structure on the two variations?

I guess I mis-spoke when I said i said that I had a hybrid that didn’t have a hint of blue. After looking at the plants they all show some blue, however two of them are a lot bluer than the third one. They all came from different sources but I believe two of them came from the same batch of seeds. There is definitely variations between each plant. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

Nice Bryan!

[Tracy]

Encephalartos whitlockii x sclavoi hybrid finally beginning a winter flush.  I planted this sometime in the autumn of 2016 from a large 5 gallon, and this is the first flush since I put it in.  I just hope that the flush doesn't get too beat up.  Winter flushes are notoriously slow, leaving them susceptible to cold and wind damage much longer than flushes other times of the year.  Perhaps our hot dry Autumn contributed to this late flush.

[Josh-O]

On 12/11/2017, 7:09:13, Peter said:

Very nice Tracy-do you have an overall photo of NatHor?

Good call  

[Palm Tree Jim]

On 12/23/2017, 6:17:17, Tracy said:

Encephalartos whitlockii x sclavoi hybrid finally beginning a winter flush.  I planted this sometime in the autumn of 2016 from a large 5 gallon, and this is the first flush since I put it in.  I just hope that the flush doesn't get too beat up.  Winter flushes are notoriously slow, leaving them susceptible to cold and wind damage much longer than flushes other times of the year.  Perhaps our hot dry Autumn contributed to this late flush.

On 10/7/2017, 5:02:12, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Tracy,

Looks like our weather is favorable for the next week or so. 

Hopefully, this will ensure a good flush for you.

 

[Tracy]

On 12/29/2017, 6:31:07, Palm Tree Jim said:

On 10/7/2017, 5:02:12, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Tracy,

Looks like our weather is favorable for the next week or so. 

Hopefully, this will ensure a good flush for you.

It took a whipping and lashing the last 48 hours.  Winds and rain, but it seems as though it may still have been early enough in the flush that it didn't whip them as much as if they had been fully extended and still soft.  There is still some hope!

[Palmzilla]

One of my blue longi male cones dusting in the wind. Appx 24” cone 

[Palm Tree Jim]

4 hours ago, Palmzilla said:

One of my blue longi male cones dusting in the wind. Appx 24” cone 

Nice Braden!

[Tracy]

4 hours ago, Palmzilla said:

One of my blue longi male cones dusting in the wind. Appx 24” cone 

Great color on that boy!  Is this his first time coning?  Longifolius male cones are some of the biggest male cones in the genus if I recall correctly.  That is a lot of energy spent pushing the cone(s) out instead of a new flush.